Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 64
NU S R AT U L- H AQ Q — HE L P OF G OD 64 years in advance to hundreds of thousands of people, yet no one could stop it from happening. It was a Sign that distinguished Islam from the A ryah faith, for I professed the truth of Islam while Lekh Ram stood for the truth of the A ryah faith. In support of his claim, he had written in his book—which still exists—that Parmeshwar [God] had informed him through revelation that I would die of cholera within three years. As against this, I, on the authority of sure information from God, had published the notice that Lekh Ram would be killed within six years and had appointed the day and date of his death. And it came to pass accordingly. This is the distinguishing Sign that bears testimony to the truth of Islam, but, unfortunately, the A ryas derived no benefit from it. In short, true religion is not merely beholden to reason, for this would bring it into discredit and give rise to the suspicion that its texts have been plagiarised from men of letters—of whom there has been no dearth in this world. Rather, in addition to rational arguments, a true religion also demonstrates its intrinsic quality—that is, heavenly Signs. This is indeed the hallmark of a true faith. The truth is that the self-concocted miracles and wonders which are tales of extreme exaggeration that ignorant people commonly attribute to some religions or personalities, cannot be a source of pride for any religion; on the contrary, they are a source of disgrace and humilia- tion. No other Prophet has had so many fictitious miracles attributed to him as have been attributed to Hadrat ‘ I s a [ Jesus], may peace be upon him, to the extent that some ignorant ones even imagine that he had revived thousands—rather, hundreds of thousands—of the dead. The Gospels have documented such highly exaggerated accounts even to the point that on one occasion all the dead buried in a graveyard, which had existed for thousands of years, were revived and all of them walked into the city alive. Now, anyone with intelligence can judge: Who would believe this degree of hard-heartedness that despite millions of people suddenly coming to life and entering into the city, recounting their stories to